A Canadian columnist looks at Giuliani

[iverglas]

This is a column by an editorial writer at a Canadian newspaper, but I'm offering it not for discussion of the content (which would belong in the Editorials group) but fyi, as a peek into US electoral politics as seen from across the border.

The columnist, Dan Gardner, is a fave of mine. Like most columnists, he occasionally gets a little arrogantly idiosyncratic, but I put up.

This column appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, one of two papers in the national capital. The other is a tabloid heavy on sports and bathing beauties. (People there also regularly read the Toronto Globe and Mail, the national newspaper of record, and the Toronto Star, e.g. And the really right-wing ones read the National Post.)

The Ottawa Citizen was bought by Conrad Black in his first round of newspaper acquisitions, and immediately went from being a run-of-the-mill mainstream media thing to being about as right-wing as you can get (in Canada), with heavy emphasis on all things Roman Catholic (Black is a convert), and a lot of dotty animal story reprints from the Telegraph, his UK flagship at the time.

It is now owned by some branch or other of the Asper clan, a nominally Liberal Party bunch not distinguishable from Black without a magnifying glass. It continues to be about as right-wing as media gets in Canada.

Okay, so here's what Dan had to say on the op-ed page of the Citizen yesterday:

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/columnists/story.html?id=f4508cfb-a2e2-4aec-b32f-795e62eb6e32

Giuliani's bombing instructors

... Giuliani may be a disturbed egomaniac with a penchant for cronyism, vendettas and uniforms, and it may be frightening to imagine such a man sitting at the desk in the Oval Office, but even a White House headed by Benito Mussolini would have to struggle mightily to be "worse than Bush." <as Harper's magazine had termed him>

It seems I was wrong to doubt Giuliani, however. Recent developments suggest he is easily capable of being a bigger disaster than the man who drowned New Orleans.

... Daniel Pipes, Martin Kramer, Nile Gardiner, Peter Berkowitz, Norman Podhoretz: The description ordinarily applied to each of these newly appointed advisers to Rudy Giuliani is "neo-conservative hawk," but that doesn't quite capture the full flavour of what's on offer here. Dick Cheney is a neo-conservative hawk and Dick Cheney would find this bunch a little scary.

... A few months ago, I wrote that should Giuliani become president, I will buy shares in major weapons manufacturers and replace the delphiniums in my backyard with a bomb shelter. Now that Giuliani, in his wisdom, has sought the counsel of Dr. Strangelove and friends, I fear the delphiniums' time is already up.

Do read the whole thing. It's quite entertaining. You'd probably also enjoy another recent one (the Ottawa Petfinder -- pet name for the Citizen used by the local satirical weekly -- only makes content available free online for a short time):

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/columnists/story.html?id=978093cc-9fb2-4c94-a522-af85f69c6853

Atheists aren't a bad lot

Can we be good without God? That's a very old question believers like to ask because, I suspect, the answer is very pleasing to them.

No, they say, we cannot be good without believing in an invisible spirit who, like Santa Claus, knows when we've been bad or good. ...

Just a little diversion for y'all!

[fenriswolf]

1. heh

alot of people still think politics is a game where they hope their horse wins. Stops being a game when you realize the wrong horse could kill you and a whole lot of other people, or just make your life a heck of a lot worse then it already is. I just might find religion in the upcoming year.